Night Out
by xCaligula
Summary: AU. It was just a night out to help her get over a breakup, but no one could have predicted who they'd end up with the next morning and now everything's way too complicated. Team Ten centered, JiraIno, ShikaKure, ChoShiho, mild NejiKari, SuiSaku, NaruHina, and TemaTen. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I honestly have no idea what inspired me to get back into fanfiction and I have no idea if I will actually ever finish this. But I wanted to write this, so here I go.**

_Ino's POV_

The course of true love never did run smooth, or at least that's what I think I read in tenth grade English. But it's been a long time, and I was always a little bit more concerned with my hair than my grades back then.

My name is Ino Yamanaka and I'm currently 22 years old. My attention to my hair grew into a career and I now work in a salon as a stylist, but I'm hoping to become a fashion designer someday. I work on clothes in my spare time, and maybe someday it'll benefit me.

But that wasn't what I was talking about, it was my disastrous love life that I was going on about. I thought things were going great with Neji Hyuuga! The dark haired, pale eyed man is a year older than me and extremely handsome. I thought we complimented each other well, but he says that he "doesn't feel much of a connection" with me and that we "should see other people".

After things hadn't worked out with Sasuke or Sai or Kiba, I really thought I'd found the one this time, but here I am, single again! And it's time to follow in my normal "I-just-got-dumped" pattern, and go hang out with my girl friends.

Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuuga, and Tenten Senshi were my closest friends growing up, so I normally go out with them when I'm down. However, Hinata is Neji's cousin and Tenten is a close friend of his and was the one to introduce us. I doubt either of them will want to hear me ranting about how much better off I am without him.

Instead, it seems I'll be falling back on some girls who come to the salon often that I ended up becoming friends with, Shiho Marasuki and Karin Uzumaki. I call Sakura first, then Karin, and both agree to meet me at my favorite club. Finally, I call Shiho.

"Hello?"

"Shiho? It's Ino. My idiot boyfriend dumped me, so I'm going out with some friends tonight, wanna come?"

"Who all is coming? Sakura or Chouji or...Shikamaru?" She tries to be subtle about it, but her crush on Shikamaru is extremely obvious. I hadn't planned on inviting the guys, but just because my love life was a disaster didn't mean that Shiho couldn't have a little fun tonight.

"Sakura is, and Karin too, but I haven't called the guys yet."

"Well, I think I'll be able to, probably..." Her voice sounds hopeful, no matter how hard she tries to disguise it. I grin to myself as I encourage her to dress up a little more and maybe put some contacts in- the poor girl will never get anywhere if she keeps dressing so plainly!- and then hang up.

Chouji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara have been my friends since practically infanthood. Our dads were all best friends, so we frequently played together when we were little and pretty much stuck together our whole lives. It isn't hard to convince Chouji to go, but Shikamaru takes a little more work. He reluctantly agrees after I play the just-got-dumped sympathy card with him, and I hang up to get ready for my night out.

~X~

All of the girls, even Shiho, look positively stunning tonight. Sakura's pink hair it in an up-do and is wearing a red dress. Karin's usually unruly red hair is straightened- I see she's following my advice!- and she's in a lilac top and black skirt. Shiho, it seems, is really putting forth an effort tonight.

Her blonde hair is still a little bit messy, but for once in her life, her bright green eyes aren't hidden behind thick lenses. Seeing as how she isn't stumbling (too much) in her heels, she must be wearing contacts. She's in a white blouse and navy skirt, not too flashy, but she probably doesn't have anything better for club-going.

When the guys show up, we all go inside together. They, of course, are just in t-shirts and jeans, but still look pretty nice. If they weren't my childhood friends, I might even consider dating one of them. Shikamaru, with his dark hair and sharp features is pretty hot, and the slightly-pudgy-but-more-muscular auburn haired Chouji is cute.

As soon as we're in, I hit the dance floor. Sakura and Karin go with me, while Shiho sticks with the guys, who aren't really in the mood for dancing. When Sakura is approached by a man with light blue hair, Karin and I grin and encourage her to dance with him.

After a little bit, Karin shouts that she was thirsty over the music and leaves me to get a drink. Pretty soon, me, Sakura, and her new friend decide to go join my group, but on the way back, Sakura suddenly stops short.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Uh, Ino...I think Neji's here."

I groan, but decide to not let it get to me. "Whatever, it's a public place, he can come here if he wants to."

"Yeah, but can he hit on your friends if he wants to?" She points and I see that he is, In fact, chatting it up with Karin and they seem to be getting pretty cozy. Perhaps I should have told Karin a little more about my ex than just "he's an idiot." Like what he looks like or at least what his name is.

"It doesn't matter," I finally say. "We're broken up, if he likes Karin, there's nothing wrong with that. She's a nice girl, they'll get along just fine, I'm sure."

I think Sakura can tell that I'm lying, but she keeps her mouth shut as we go over to the table with Shiho and the guys are sitting. Her friend introduces himself as Suigetsu and seems to fit in with the group alright.

Shiho, on the other hand, is just plain awkward. Shikamaru is completely oblivious to her crush on him and she's struggling to fit into any of the conversations. In a desperate attempt to fit in better, when Shikamaru orders his first drink, so does she, though anyone can tell she isn't a drinker with how she studied the menu and sounded confused as she ordered. I can tell this is going to be interesting.

Not _this_ interesting, though! I can see Karin approaching our table, and with Neji in tow. I'm not in the mood to face my ex with my friend hanging all over him, so before they can get close, I excuse myself and walk off.

At this point, it's safe to say that I'm pissed off. I know it's not Karin's fault, since she has no idea he's my ex, but Neji! Who would have thought someone as serious as him would be hooking up with hot redheads in clubs on the same day he broke up with his hot blonde girlfriend? By the time I reach the bar, I'm fuming. I barely notice the stranger to my left as I order and down my first drink.

But as I order my second and prepare to down it, he says, "Better slow down, there." I look over with annoyance to see who has the gall to tell me how to spend my night. He seems to be older, and has broad shoulders, long white hair, and a sqaure jaw. All in all, not bad looking, but I'm too irritated to really notice.

"Why should I?" I snap.

"Well, do you really wanna be too out of it to have any fun tonight? Isn't that what girls your age come to clubs to do?" he asks.

"I _did_ come to have fun and forget about my idiot ex, but then I saw him all over my friend, so I guess that calls for a change of plans." Normally, I don't tell my life story to strangers, but, like I said, I'm pissed off, and he's asking for it.

"He certainly is an idiot," he murmurs, giving me a once-over. I'm aware of how great I must look to him and almost start to cheer up a bit. "That doesn't have to ruin your night, though," he continues. "How about, instead, you let me pay for that drink so your money isn't wasted, leave it sitting here, and come dance with me?"

The question takes me by surprise, but I don't contemplate it for long. Maybe if Neji sees me with another guy, he'll get just as pissed off as I did. Sounds like perfect payback to me!

"Alright, I think I can do that," I reply. "My name's Ino, by the way. What's yours?"

"Jiraiya," he says, and he pays for my drink, takes my hand, and leads me to the dance floor.

**A/N: Next chapter will be Shikamaru's point of view. The story will be from his, Ino's, and Chouji's POVs, and maybe their respective love interests, but probably not. I'm trying to keep it strictly Team 10-centric.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter two, babies! If we're being honest, I'm surprised I even made it this far, all things considered. I thought this would be another story I ditch on the first chapter...if I can at least get through the first three, I'll be my own hero.**

_Shikamaru's POV_

This whole night's shaping up to be a total bore. Not that I mind nothing happening, I'm not really one for excitement. It's just that, if I'm going to be doing nothing, can't I do it in the comfort of my own home, wearing whatever I want? But Ino wanted me to come with her tonight, and, much as I didn't want to, she's a close friend and it seems like the breakup really hurt her.

Still, it isn't like she really needs me here, I've hardly seen her all night. As soon as we got here, she went off dancing, leaving me to sit with Chouji and Shiho. Chouji and I got to talking with the former, while the latter sat silently. Every now and then, she would try and say something, but she'd either backtrack or laugh nervously and fall silent again.

Eventually, Ino comes back with Sakura, whose brought some guy from off the dance floor. We order our drinks, and I notice that Shiho has probably never done this before. I can tell that she's confused and doesn't really know what to order, making it pretty clear she doesn't drink. I wonder why she's doing something that seems out of her comfort zone just to fit in; she seemed to be more practical than that.

Whatever, it's none of my concern. Shiho's old enough to make her own decisions, no matter what they may be. Ino suddenly gets up and leaves, making some excuse or other and vanishing. It doesn't take long to figure out why, when Karin returns with Neji, the ex who inspired this little outing.

I'm starting to get even more bored than I thought possible, as Karin flirts with Neji and Sakura flirts with her new friend and Shiho begins to open up a little bit more with the alcohol and seems to be attempting to lock Chouji in a conversation.

In my boredom, I scan the room, and my eyes land on someone familiar, a dark haired, red eyed woman named Kurenai Yuuhi. I met her through a friend of the family, her boyfriend, Asuma Sarutobi, and she catches my eye and waves. I decide this is my chance to escape this boring table, so I say, "I saw a friend, gonna go say hi," and walk over to her.

"Hello, Shikamaru," she says with a warm smile. She's with two other women, one with dark hair and one with purple. The dark haired one is clearly smashed and isn't making any sense while the purple haired one is at least coherent, if not a little rambunctious. The purpose of their outing becomes clear when I see a "bride" pin on the former and a "bride's maid" on the latter.

"Hey," I say as the purple haired one shoves a drink at her. "Bachelorette party?"

She nods and gestures to the bride. "Shizune's getting married." She shoves the drink back at the other one and says, "Anko, I told you, I'm not drinking! Someone needs to stay sober tonight!"

"And we already decided that's Yugao's job, remember? Now drink up!"

Kurenai groans, but gives in as she takes a sip. "Would you like to sit down? Or do you need to get back to your other friends?"

I way the options in my mind; I could sit and catch up with her, but would have to put up with her intoxicated friends, which was sure to be troublesome. On the other hand, I could go back to my friends, where I would undoubtedly become some sort of seventh wheel.

And so I decide to stay, at least for a little bit.

Kurenai and I chat a bit, getting caught up, and getting to know each other a little better. All in all, I'm actually enjoying myself, but I notice that Anko keeps shoving drink after drink at her, and she's stopped attempting to put up any resistance.

Soon, she's slurring her words and giggling, then does something completely out of character. She stands up and says, "C'mon, Shika, let's dance!"

"I'd really rather not," I say, but she pulls me up and stumbles as she drags me over to the dance floor. I notice my group seems to have migrated here as well, but they don't see me. There's Karin and Neji, Sakura and her friend (I really wish I could remember what he said his name was), and Shiho seems to have made some sort of move on Chouji.

Kurenai dances around a bit, though the alcohol has definitely made her less graceful; however, it numbs her senses enough that she doesn't notice that I'm not dancing, I'm just keeping an eye on her. This really isn't good...

I'm distracted from my train of thought when I see Ino out of the corner of my eye. I turn, and she's dancing with some guy. He's clearly older than her, and I wonder if she's just doing this because she saw Neji with Karin. It's really none of my concern, and I don't like to get into messes like this, but she's been my friend for years and I briefly worry about her. I really hope she's being careful...

But, back to the situation at hand. Kurenai is completely out of it and begins hanging onto me. Her friends are no where to be seen, so I carefully lead her back to our table and sit her down. She needs to get home, but I don't see Anko or Shizune- not that they would be much help anyway- and I don't even know what the Yugao they mentioned earlier looks like.

Really, there's only one thing I can do. Such a drag... "Kurenai, I'm gonna take you home," I say.

"Awright," she murmurs, and I help her up, leading her to my car. I help her in before going over to my side and sending a text to Chouji, telling him where I went. As I start to drive, I ask Kurenai where she lives.

Silence. "Oh no," I groan. She's fallen asleep, and I try to wake her up, but I need to focus on the road, so I let her be. It looks like she'll be spending the night tonight.

**A/N: This chapter was kinda hard to write, and because of the lack of dialogue, and just being from Shikamaru's POV, it seemed a little awkwardly written. Oh well, it's done and out of the way. Next time, it's Chouji.**


End file.
